Gago, R. , Soldera, F. , Huebner, R. , Lehmann, J. , Munnik, F. , Vazquez, L. , Redondo-Cubero, A. , ENDRINO ARMENTEROS, JOSÉ LUIS
Si
J Alloys Compd
Article
Científica
2.726
1.059
05/06/2013
000316683700016
2-s2.0-84874425666
Titanium aluminium nitride (TiAlN) coatings have been grown by reactive (Ar/N-2) direct-current magnetron sputtering from a Ti50Al50 compound target. The film composition has been quantified by ion beam analysis showing the formation of Al-rich nitrides (Ti/Al similar to 0.3), with stoichiometric films for N-2 contents in the gas mixture equal or above similar to 25%. The surface morphology of the films has been imaged by atomic force microscopy, showing very smooth surfaces with roughness values below 2 nm. X-ray and electron diffraction patterns reveal that the films are nanocrystalline with a wurzite (w) structure of lattice parameters larger (similar to 2.5%) than those for w-AlN. The lattice expansion correlates with the Ti/Al ratio in stoichiometric films, which suggests the incorporation of Ti into w-AlN. The atomic environments around Ti, Al and N sites have been extracted from the X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) by recording the Ti2p, Al1s and N1s edges, respectively. The analysis of the XANES spectral lineshape and comparison with reported theoretical calculations confirm the formation of a ternary hexagonal phase. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.
Nitride materials; Vapour deposition; Atomic scale structure; NEXAFS/XANES